Guest blogger - F.I.J.: "Nibble on this - Instant Noodles"

I was IMing with my Friend in Japan (F.I.J.) to get an update on the flooding. Good thing it's subsided, at least in the area where my friend lives. At one point, I asked FIJ why won't she blog about it. FIJ says too lazy to start a blog. Somehow, I ended up offering F.I.J. to guest blog.

Maybe I'm trying to ease F.I.J. into this blogging thing. Maybe not. In anycase, I felt F.I.J. had interesting things to say, and so why not "guest blog" here? This space is for learning, and there's some learning elements in FIJ's contribution on Instant Noodles. For me, it was an insight into a person's information search behaviour (in F.I.J.'s case, on how Wikipedia information was used).

Friend in Japan wrote:

My favourite instant noodles back home is Mi-Goreng (no, it's not Indomie Mi-goreng, but another brand that I cannot remember. Can't ID it as I've ran out of it. Mental note to self: stock up the next time I'm home).

I also like Mama Brand's Shrimp Tom Yam Flavoured Instant Noodles. Alas, I can't find these two types of instant noodles in the land that invented instant noodles.

Even Nissin Curry Cup Noodles wasn't what I had expected. It was Japanese curry, not hot curry, what was I thinking about? When I need my spicy instant noodles kick, the best that I can find is Korean Instant Noodles, which by the way is what many eateries in Korea use. I saw boxes of them in many eateries in Korea.

Back to Japan: Cup Noodles are a type of instant-noodle/ ramen snack in a styrofoam or hard plastic cup. According to Wikipedia, cup noodles were invented in 1971 by a Japanese food company, Nissin (more about the man who invented cup noodles).

Cooking time varies but is usually around 3 minutes. Better results are yielded when boiling water is added to the Cup Noodle instead of adding cold water to the Cup Noodle followed by cooking in the microwave. I tried the latter just to check the validity of information on Wikipedia. In this instance, I should have trusted Wikipedia. My Cheese-Curry Cup Noodles were not chewy and the cheese bits were spongy.

Anyhow, in this homeland of cup noodles, my favourite Mi-Goreng comes in the form of Japanese Fried Noodles (Yakisoba). Although it is not spicy, it is as tasty as Mi-Goreng and best of all, I love the easy and fuss-free "cooking". Also, it's really tasty for a cheap meal.



And if you think cooking noodles in 3 minutes undermines your abilities, watch this video (6mins 30secs).

If you are crazy about ramen and want to know more, check out the ramen links on Mari's blog.

I assured F.I.J. this was not a "bo-liao" (i.e. useless) post. It's an individual's perspective on Instant Noodles. What might be "noise" could be the equivalent of gold to someone else (information-wise). We never know.

In fact, I discovered this post by ManMeng on "How to prepare an instant noodle cup". Some of us might think there's little value in posting something as simple as making cup noodles (it's supposed to be simple to make cup noodles so why would you need instructions?)

But suppose 10 or 20 years from now, cup noodles become a "thing of the past". Then posts like those from F.I.J. and MenMeng will become gold indeed.


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